Look through LinkedIn and notice how self-employed people describe themselves.
Corporate employees are often given a title by their company but a self-employed person can create any title they want.
It’s a safe bet that anyone who declares themselves to be an expert, evangelist, guru, life coach, influencer, disrupter, ambassador, thought leader, ninja or even a rockstar, probably isn’t.
What exactly do the titles “innovator” and “visionary” mean? One might wonder if “self-employed” is somehow related to “self-important.”
There’s a difference between blowing your own horn and blowing hot air. We all know that any business that uses words such as “world’s best,” “honest” or “high quality” in its slogan is probably fooling only themselves.
Perhaps professional photographers should use a title such as:
Visual Communications Strategist
Chief Imaging Officer
Visual Opportunity Research Analyst
Pixel Control Specialist
Visual Innovator
Photon Optimization Engineer
Digital Light Technician
Optical Solutions Developer
Creative Communications Visionary
Principal Visualization Wizard
Visual Content Solutions Provider
Titles are used to create certain expectation. But the only title that matters is the one that a customer gives to a business.
For a self-employed photographer, this title will ideally be along the lines of, “Wow, what a great photographer you are!”
Self-invented titles are just words on a business card. But earned titles are memorable, especially to the customer.
